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Ask
Auntie Pinko
December
6, 2001
Dear Auntie Pinko,
Why is the entire military right wing? I am outnumbered
here 10-1. A conservative comrade of mine made a good point,
"If the liberal mindset wants to change the military, why
don't they join it?"
A Liberal Military Guy
Pittburgh, PA
Dear Liberal Military Guy,
Auntie Pinko is neither a mind reader nor a sociologist,
so I can hardly answer your question authoritatively. However,
let me take a crack at it from a lifetime's experience.
Back when Auntie Pinko was much younger, the military had
a whole range of political ideologies represented among its
members. Of course, in those days, a young man had no choice
about military service. A young man in those times who couldn't
get a medical deferment basically had four courses open to
him:
• If you were poor and smart, you volunteered, hoping
to get a better assignment in the service of your choice.
• If you were poor and dumb, you waited until you got
your "Greetings" notice, and took whatever was dished out.
• If you were rich and smart, you had a lot of options-you
could try for a service academy and end up an officer dishing
out instead of taking, you could get a long string of educational
deferments, or do ROTC, or otherwise avoid the worst.
• If you were rich and dumb, you could get your Daddy
to wangle a soft spot for you in the Guard or something like
that.
But no matter which course you took, if you were a young
man between 18 and 20, you generally ended up doing military
service.
So the young men in the military represented all kinds of
backgrounds and political views. They didn't necessarily want
to be in the military, but it was part of being a citizen
and they generally hung in there and did alright.
Auntie Pinko's own Daddy was a Marine, so we understood a
little bit about service life. The moving from post to post,
the less-than-luxurious housing (we lived in a Quonset hut
for almost a year!) and all the other inconveniences of being
in a service family were pretty much taken for granted.
Things changed a lot when the draft ended, LMG. That might
have something to do with the prevailing conservative bias.
After all, the military represents a pretty strict, hierarchically
structured lifestyle. One of the first things they teach you
is that thinking for yourself is not a valuable quality
(at least, not until you reach a higher level than the average
private/airman/rating.)
Most liberals understand the value of discipline and many
of us practice it in various aspects of our lives, but given
a choice, we tend to prefer self-discipline over externally-imposed
discipline.
I think the services themselves have also contributed to
the bias in the way their recruiting materials are designed.
They tend to rather heavily emphasize self-interest - college
benefits, travel, marketable job skills, and so on. That's
fine as far as it goes, and probably necessary to attract
the numbers of young people who are needed. But the liberals
I know tend to be idealistic, even altruistic. Perhaps recruitment
materials that emphasize the obligations of citizenship in
a democracy, or describe the goals and constructive things
the military accomplishes, might attract more liberals. I'm
betting that at least some of those motives were what convinced
you, LMG.
Just some random thoughts, and thanks for asking Auntie Pinko!
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